Anthony Veneziano Signs With KBO’s SSG Landers

The SSG Landers of the Korea Baseball Organization announced this evening that they’ve signed left-hander Anthony Veneziano. The KHG Sports Management client receives a $750K salary and can make another $100K in incentives.

As noted by Dan Kurtz of MyKBO, the signing comes after the Landers pulled out of their agreement with right-hander Drew VerHagen. The club’s medical team had flagged an undisclosed issue with VerHagen’s physical. He’ll return to free agency. That opened a roster spot for a second non-Pacific foreign pitcher alongside righty Mitch White, who is back for his second season with the team. They targeted Veneziano, who was granted his release from a minor league contract with the Rangers to pursue the opportunity.

The 28-year-old Veneziano heads overseas for the first time in his career. He’d been in affiliated ball since 2019, when the Royals took him as a 10th-round draftee out of Coastal Carolina. Veneziano worked as a starter for most of his minor league career. He has been a full-time reliever in the big leagues, only starting one of 40 appearances as an opener. Veneziano has suited up with Kansas City, Miami and St. Louis. He owns a 3.98 ERA with a 21.3% strikeout rate over 40 2/3 MLB innings.

While Veneziano’s big league track record is reasonably solid, he’s coming off a tough season working out of the bullpen in Triple-A. That limited him to a minor league deal He’ll instead get a guaranteed contract that pays close to what he would have made had he cracked the Texas bullpen. It’s likely he’ll also get an opportunity to build back up as a starter. The foreign player limit for KBO teams means they’re unlikely to use one of those spots on players they’d project as relievers. If he pitches well as a starter for a season or two in Korea, he’d be better positioned to explore MLB opportunities down the line.